Dd is being referred to a SALT

[jofeb04]

Hiya,

Dd (3.7) is in the process of being referred to a speech and language therapist.

Dd doesn't say all the word (often misses out the last letter), and can't pronounce certain sounds (L being a main one).

We are hoping that with a SALT, we can help her speech become easier to understand. Is there anything we should be doing to help the proces along (been told it may be up to two months before dd is seen). Dd also being referred to audiologist 9sp?) just to have her hearing checked out - HV said SALT will want to see the results anyway - as apposed to HV wanting her to be specifically seen.

Thanks

Is the last letter she misses out usually an "S"? That's a high frequency sound and some kids have poorer hearing for high frequency. The audiology appt should put your mind at rest about the hearing. A 2 month wait for SALT isn't too bad (in general terms, I know it's too long for you). Good luck.

Thanks Cthea.

It's any letter really.Sometimes the last syllable as well.

We were told that the waiting list here is alot quicker than in some places, so the wait itself isn't such a concern (though obviously want dd to be seen as quick as possible).

Is there anything we should/could be doing to help her (we read to dd every night)

You need to know what letters she doesn't say on their own phonetically and work on those - well at least that is what they've done with my dds.

Some sounds are not late until they are 4/5 years old cluster sounds like sp can be up to 7.

My youngest passed her NHS hearing test but a private one revealed very poor hearing of the higher frequencies, in fact for some of the frequencies she was actually hearing impaired. We did a programme for Johansen sound therapy and in 4 months her hearing is sorted.......just got to plod on with the speech therapy she has moderate-severe speech delay at the moment.

www.johansensoundtherapy.com/

Thanks for the info Cargirl. Gives me something to think about rather than just waiting around!

Found my info on speech that I got from the salt.

Approximate average speech for phonetic sounds:

m n w p b t d 1.5-2 years

s f g k/c 2-3 years

bl sp v l z sh 3-4 years

th ch j r over 4 years

my dd also misses of the endings of nearly all her words particularly when speaking in sentances. She was nearly 3 when diagnosed with moderate delay and in the follow 8.5 months didn't progress at all so now she is 3.5 and we are working on s & f at the moment she can now say them on their own but not as part of a word yet. Actually she struggles with the differences between t & d and probably again when in sentences gets p b t d not very clear depending on what other sounds they're with.

She can't say any of the age 3-4 sounds yet.

She has to concentrate to say "s" and "f" when we're doing our practices (you just aim for a few minutes several times per day)

Your list seems weird to me Cargirl because DS (almost 5) has managed ch & j for ages, but mixes up t/k or d/g constantly & can't do v or most the others for age 2+ yet. Speech delays are quite idiosyncratic, I guess.

Not saying L right is very common for under 7s, OP.

That is why I guess it is approximate and average IYSWIM.

That was given to me by our SALT but we use 4 different areas of the mouth to make sounds and lots & lots of different muscles. The d/g is what my elder dd had issues with - it was easier to say "gog" than "dog" because "dog" is frount of mouth and then back of throat it is far easier to say "gog" the same with t/k whereas ch & j are mid mouth sounds so he probably finds them easiest.

Also the v s f g are all tip of tongue and front of mouth along with z.

I'm no expert just all the info that I've picked up on the way going through the whole salt process with 2 different children with different issues.